Print issue SPEX No. 375 focuses upon anger and resistance in pop culture. For this reason SPEX invited artists from all over the globe to answer the question: Is Anger An Energy? Read the full-length interviews online only. Today: Nadine Shah from England.

What does anger mean to you? And how important is resistance for you?Anger is a stimulate for change – just because it’s anger it doesn’t mean it’s violent, but it most definitely does mean: I get up in the morning. Resistance is key to not feeling crushed by moralistic or dogmatic views that go against the grain of my own. Going with the tide is only important when you want to arrive at the destination on offer.

How and against what are you protesting?To quote Sonic Youth: „Male white corporate oppression“. Anything and anyone that marginalises vulnerable sections of any society – we exist in a culture of blame and it’s one spawned from hideous lizard people who systematically ooze their bile into our conciousness through their tabloid sewer system.

„You don’t have to be a protest singer to cause change.“

Taking a look at the current state of the world, does your urge to take a stand, to speak out, to act get stronger?Any point in time is worth taking a stand if you believe that something is not the way it should be. Don’t wait until it affects you directly.

Is there room for more than symbolic protest within the realm pop culture? How can pop culture bring about change, even beyond the already converted?Popular culture has always gone hand-in-hand with protest, The Beatles calling for non-segregated audiences in the US may have been symbolic but it’s still spoken about to this day and inspired other artists of the time to do the same. Pop culture has always brought about change but more often than not it’s only with the benefit of hindsight that it becomes noted. You don’t have to be a protest singer to cause change. Sister Rosetta Tharpe invented Rock ’n‘ Roll.

What is the most urgent cause of your art?Currently, the global rise in nationalism and a severe lack of empathy for the most vulnerable amongst us.